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February 18, 2008

Visit Jeremiah and April Markley's blog...they are working in the Dinangat tribe in PNG! They've uploaded some INTENSE picts of the Bible Teaching they are doing right now!! Keep them in your prayers...thanks! :)

This was their latest email update:

________________Dear Praying Friends,

I call this a “summary”, but there really is no way to sum up what we are witnessing here in Dinangat. The Power of God’s Word is breaking up the ground and starting to take root in their hearts. They have learned a lot this week, and I constantly watch and listen with amazement as after every lesson, different men are getting up and praising God for the Truths they are learning!

“ Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.” Genesis 3:7

This week we taught on the fall of man. As God doled out the punishments to Adam, Eve and the serpent, the people of our village had their eyes opened in a new way. Before, there was always someone else to blame for their sins. “That woman put a curse on me, and I had no choice but to follow her…”, “The evil spirit made me do it, I couldn’t control myself…”, “It wasn’t my fault…”. All common and acceptable phrases in this culture. On Friday, here’s what Felix had to say to the whole group:

“We all do the same thing! We blame so and so for everything bad we do! We can’t do that anymore. Each one of us is responsible for everything we do, we are responsible for our own sin!”

Opangnepe said, “This talk here has really convicted me. I think our ancestors were deceived by God’s enemy, and now we too are being led down the path to death! We too are following Satan! What we were doing in the past and are doing now is wrong! My stomach is in knots, and I want to cry! “

“Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.” James 4:9, 10

We have barely made it out of the Garden of Eden, and the people are already feeling the weight of their sin, the first step to salvation and repentance. God be praised!

The ladies, however, are a lot quieter and much more afraid to ask questions. My language helper, Ote, told me that they believed that Eve was the mother of all sin, and that since it was she who gave it to the man, men are still righteous (gods) and women are sinners. This explains much of why it’s so hard to really draw them out. Please pray that they will be bold to speak out their thoughts and that we would also have the wisdom to know how to talk to them.

I’ll end with the most encouraging quote of the week. Basa, one of the literacy teachers, has been at the edge of his seat the whole time. He’s very quick to ask and answer questions, and this week we were so thrilled to see what God is doing in his heart. During the question/answer part of the lesson, he asked if he could go up to the front and address the whole group (a little scary, but what are you gonna say? J) He goes to the front, with much emotion and with all his heart, bellows out that GOD is ABOVE everyone and everything! He is Good! He is Righteous! And Satan is NOTHING compared to Him!

WOW! Thank YOU GOD! They are seeing and understanding!

And THANK YOU for praying!

Next Week’s lessons for you to pray about:

Monday – God rejected Cain and his offering, but He accepted Abel and his offering.

Tuesday – The Bible tells us about Cain’s descendants and Seth’s descendants.

Wednesday – God said He would punish the world, but He promised to save Noah and all who entered the boat.

Thursday – God destroyed everyone in the world except Noah and his family in the boat.